Trading Places

There’s no shortage of speculation about which NFL team might relocate to Los Angeles, despite recent news that Anschutz Entertainment Group, a leading force in the development of a downtown stadium, has been put up for sale by its billionaire owner. But for all the excitement in the nation’s second-largest media market about the return of the pro game after nearly two decades, history suggests that not all franchise moves work out quite as planned. Exhibits A-J: The five best and five worst pro franchise relos.

"Fast enough, in fact, so that every once in a while it’s the Big Red who are rumored to be heading to LA."

I have never heard this. Ever. Source??

The Bidwells are horrible and stingy. The entire front office should be fired. The fact that they have had the same GM for 10 years with only a few playoff appearances is absolutely absurd. Their drafting is inconsistent at best... not drafting an o-line is a terrible idea by the way. But they in the past 5 years they have solidified their culture and importance in AZ. (thanks in large to Larry, Kurt, and Ken)

Last I checked they've sold out every game since moving into the stadium (from the ridiculous location of the sun devil's stadium in Tempe)... does that sound like a fan base fading enough to warrant a move to LA?

I thinkyou're making things up. I'm not saying the relocation in 88 from St. Louis to AZ was for the better. I'm not saying that the cards have been fantastic, though so much better since moving into the stadium. And I'm definitely not saying the bidwells are good owners. But this is not a franchise that's even close to moving to LA... try Tampa Bay? Oakland? Jacksonville? Carolina? even San Diego?

Just for fun I googled "franchises rumored to move to LA"... all 1st page results equaled a whopping ZERO references to the cardinals. I then googled "Arizona Cardinals to LA"... 1 article from 09 talking specifically about how times have change and the cardinals aren't going anywhere.

So either your information is wrong and you should tell your source that... or you (i believe as a native to St Louis) were obviously upset by the cards heading to a warmer climate. Well you got the greatest show on turf and we got a few glorious years with warner too.

And while i'm still baffled at that line, I can do nothing but hope you check your sources next time. We cardinals fans are proud that our franchise is making strides in the right direction. If they fire Rod Graves, we'd be even more happy. But making stuff up to bash a team you don't like isn't cool and definitely isn't journalistic.

How can you write a story about relocations, with a hook about L.A., and not mention the Dodgers, the Raiders or the Rams? Al Davis's return to Oakland should easily top this list, a move Davis made out of spite despite the fact that Georgia Dingbatiere had just turned the second largest media market completely over to him, and the team has been nothing but an on-field disaster (in a small media market) ever since.

Lazy reporting. The Clippers move to L.A. (and subsequent co-tenancy with the Lakers) have put them on the league's "most profitable" list annually. And now, with Sterling's new "win now" attitude, the team is selling out game after game amp; pouring money into superstar talent (CP3, Blake Griffin, Chauncey Billups, etc.)

Regarding the move of the Cardinals (NFL) from Chicago to St. Louis to Arizona: "...they were barely missed in the

first two cities..."

UTTER and COMPLETE bull$amp;!^. I can't speak to how Chicago fans felt when the Cardinals moved to St. Louis, but I can tell you that there are thousands upon thousands of St. Louis Cardinals fans who are still incensed that the BIG RED (as we called them) were stolen by Bill Bidwill and moved to Arizona. What kind of research did the author do, in order to substantiate his "they were barely missed" quote? I'd like to see some kind of documentation for his claim. I'm guessing that since the author (Gary Belsky) is based out of New York according to his Twitter info, and he didn't hear much about the franchise move among his NY buddies when it happened, he assumed that all of us Midwest hayseeds must not give a crap about our football team.

Really?? Nothing about "The Catastrophe." (The 1958 move of the Brooklyn Dodgers to their new alleged "home" in L.A.)

From a sports perspective maybe some of those other "worsts" matter, but from a historical, psychological, sociological, emotional and human perspective, The Catastrophe will always be the number 1 worst team relocation. Always.

Since the lead-in is about LA getting a team, how can you leave off when the Seahawks moved to LA for a weekend and then brought all the trailers back? If nothing else it is probably the shortest lived relo.

Two of the 4 cups were before the Devils moved to the metro area. So during the 3 decades since they moved they are the winningest team.

Also, Devils Arena Entertainment is a sound and profitable business since they own and control the arena, which is the top-10 in the world in terms of gross. The issue is that the current ownership acquired the team with too much leverage causing cash flow problems. A properly capitalized ownership group will succeed based on the arena deal structure.

Only because the franchise should've never existed to begin with. The NHL over-expanded in the early-to-mid 70s, and were too stubborn to fold any. (Hey, that sounds familiar!) It took a decade to get on solid ground in NJ. It was hardly a model move.

How can you say that a team got bought with a 'bribe' and then call it a good move? The team would have been just as good had they stayed in Cleveland, it's not like they wanted for fans or talent. It happened because Art Model made an insanely greedy decision and it didn't need to happen like some of these other franchises that were hurting.